BarbedWire

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-03-10/dementia-dogs-australia-program-to-become-worlds-largest/7226654

How about getting an older dog from rescue? One that is already good with children and has lost its family for whatever reason. Older dogs can be very patient and you would be saving a life. There are lot of bull breed type dogs looking for homes. Puppies are boisterous and jump up and destroy anything they can get their teeth on to. They can also be mouthy and your daughter might not like that.

I can't prove it either way myself. I just gave my experience for what it's worth and based on my experience dog attacks were not very common because I never heard of them. I grew up in Melbourne and my family always had dogs and I knew about dogs and was always interested in them. Once upon a time I wanted to be a vet. As I said earlier I did get nipped once by a GSD but I don't think it even broke the skin and I would not classify it as an attack. I told my father and he complained to the owner and told him to keep his dog in which I believe the owner did although I can't remember. Just for the record I do not hate bull breeds. My family got our first boxer in the 1960s and I have owned five boxers since the 1970s until about 6 years ago when my last boxer boy died and I decided that boxers were too big for me. My older son has a boxer and my younger son wants one when he has his own place.

I don't plan to ignore you Snook. I value your posts which are usually warm and empathetic. My comments were based on my personal experience as someone who lived at that time. Your experience with the GSD is equally valid but of course it is more recent almost up to the time when records were being kept. A good historian would question the reliability of parts of those early records though especially about the identification of breeds. When I was growing up GSDs, which were then called Alsatians, were feared and there were special regulations about how they were to be contained. They were often used as police dogs or guard dogs especially of Used Car Yards where they were contained behind high cyclone wire fences with barbed wire along the top. The following article explains how historians evaluate the past and please don't be offended if it is something you already know. I just thought it might be of interest. The bolding is mine.

MW with all due respect we don't know. There are no figures for dog attacks previously. And one death a year is too many IMO.

I would like to bring this post forward and point out that by dog fighting I meant dogs having a disagreement in the street, not two dogs out to kill each other. This thread is about public safety and the seriousness of dog attacks (surely no-one can ever forget Ayen Chol) not how often or where they are reported. And it is also about how once dogs have been declared dangerous they are released back into the community with no adequate supervision that the owners will abide by the dangerous dog provisions. I would not like to be the owners of the dog that was killed. I imagine they would justifiably feel very unsafe. It is confusing to talk about dog fighting, then saying two dogs out to kill each other do not count as fighting, especially in a thread where some dogs have killed others? Maybe it will finally clarify what I am trying to say if I word it this way 'my reference to dog fighting in my post meant dogs having a disagreement in the street, not two dogs out to kill each other.' ETA I did follow up my original use of dog fighting with 'If 2 dogs had a spat' which is a petty quarrel according to my dictionary. ef clarity

Snook I find your post offensive and I will not be responding. This thread has gone seriously off topic and this post is an attempt to bring it back on track. I think this post made some excellent points especially the bolded parts although I am not happy to blame only a certain breed. I think that most offending dogs today are mixes. In the past if a dog was threatening (ie hackles up and growling) it would back off when yelled at or if something was thrown at it. Today some dogs are not so easily subdued. They do not respect people. I would like to bring this post forward and point out that by dog fighting I meant dogs having a disagreement in the street, not two dogs out to kill each other. This thread is about public safety and the seriousness of dog attacks (surely no-one can ever forget Ayen Chol) not how often or where they are reported. And it is also about how once dogs have been declared dangerous they are released back into the community with no adequate supervision that the owners will abide by the dangerous dog provisions. I would not like to be the owners of the dog that was killed. I imagine they would justifiably feel very unsafe.

I think that dog attacks today can be much more serious than they used to be. When I was growing up people did not get killed, or have their noses bitten off. Dogs did not enter people's lounge rooms and tear dogs out of their owner's arms and kill them. Actually dog fighting was not a big issue. If 2 dogs had a spat someone would turn a hose on them or chuck a bucket of water over them and that would be the end of it. I probably need to clarify this. By dog fighting I mean two dogs having a rumble about something, not organised dog fighting. Diva I think organised dog fighting probably started up in Australia in the 1970s.

Congratulations Tassie. That sounds like a very successful day for Mr Rory. I have put in the registration papers for my girl although I have still not made up my mind about what I will do. Rally does like fun, so maybe that's the way we will go. I have still not decided. :)

How do you know Snook? We did have television. I have no difficulty comparing then with now. I would suggest you read the OP again. This thread had nothing to do with social media and people getting their moment of glory. What happened in the OP was horrible and afaik it was only reported in the Canberra news and it did happen in Canberra. The owners of the dog that was killed did not seek media attention. Then later the thread was updated because the dogs were released back to their owner and the thread was about dangerous dog laws and how they don't really work. ETA This thread was about two dogs breaking into someone's lounge room and killing their dog. ie dogs attacking.

Sorry to disagree but when I was growing up in the 1950s dog fighting was not a big issue in Melbourne where I lived. Re bolded part I started this thread. It is my thread. :) Edited to add the emoticon which I forgot when I posted earlier.

I think that dog attacks today can be much more serious than they used to be. When I was growing up people did not get killed, or have their noses bitten off. Dogs did not enter people's lounge rooms and tear dogs out of their owner's arms and kill them. Actually dog fighting was not a big issue. If 2 dogs had a spat someone would turn a hose on them or chuck a bucket of water over them and that would be the end of it.

I don't think people deliberately breed litters where they go, 'Hey, I wonder how many of this litter will end up locked in a box for two years.' Maybe it is time they did, That is my point. They are judged by their appearance Poor dogs!

Thank you for the replies. My cardiologist appointment is over and nothing new came out of it. Just a reminder that I am finite as are we all. My dog did bond with me eventually. It probably took him about twelve months. It is interesting that some people have had similar experiences. I think my dog had always been very well-treated before arriving at the pound. He was chipped with his date of birth on the chip record and desexed which to me means he came from a responsible breeder. I have oftenwondered if he came from the early breeding of the Cobberdog when they used wheatens in their program and he was rejected for some reason, perhaps because his tail which curled up over his back. He was about the right age. I always imagined that he had belonged to a young family who had to move and couldn't take him, possibly an army family, although of course I realise that is pure conjecture and I will never know. It's fun to think about it though. I thought dogs had evolved to belong to people and loyalty is a trait that we value in our dogs. I also thought I had read somewhere that Cattle dogs are known to be one person dogs and then there are the stories about the dogs who stay at their owner's graves (Greyfriars' Bobbie although that has been disputed). I would like to think that my older girl who I have had since she was four months old would miss me if anything happened and if she were stolen or lost she would try to find me. We invest a lot in our dogs - some even refer to them as their heart dogs - and I hope they return that loyalty or are they just complete parasites who just hang around and pretend to love us because of what's in it for them.

You didn't fail him. Read the last sentence of my reply again. I'm sorry you are having a bleak day but try to remember the good times with him. I didn't mean your post. You are always positive. You are right I do need to remember the good times. Once when he ran off when I let him off the lead thinking I could now trust him and after chasing after him I finally gave up and took my other dog home balling my eyes out thinking he was gone and when we got home he was there already sitting on the front door step looking very pleased to see me. I just woke up this morning missing him. (It might be something to do with having a cardiologist appointment shortly.) I have just found homes for his towels (my dogs have their own colour coded towels. His were yellow because that was his colour) and I just miss him all over again. Anyway I am probably being too sensitive. Hopefully I will feel better after my appointment. Sorry for being negative and thank you to those who have understood - stellnme, vehs, Juice, raineth, Powerlegs, and anyone else I have missed.

My dog had no problems with men and I have not said he was abused in any way because I think he had been loved. All I am saying is that it seemed to me that he wanted to go home to the place where presumably he had lived for eight years. My older girl is now eight and I think she would always regard living with me as being at home. I hope she would because I love her very much. The dog in the OP did come to a house where he was very welcome and where I already had one other dog who was settled and quite happy to see him and they got on well from the beginning. I have said today was a bleak day because I am remembering him and so wanting him back. Now I feel I failed him. RIP beautiful boy.

Thank you Juice. The bolded part is what I mean

Interesting responses. I think the age of the dog is also relevant. I have here another rescue who arrived here at eight months of age. She was delighted to leave the pound and bonded with me when we first met at the pound. I think older dogs remember their past lives; they remember owners (and other dogs) they haven't seen for many years. To a certain extent they do live in the moment but they remember what they were taught many years ago and haven't done since. They also remember places. Some dogs travel hundreds of kilometres to go home. JulesP, he was not an escape artist. After bursting out the front door in the early days he never did escape from my house again. He was neither a jumper nor a digger. I have had rescue dogs that have burst out the front door in the same way when they first arrived from the pound. I believe that many dogs at the pound would find their way home if they could.

A dog is better off not being born than locked in a small cage for 2 years with no interaction. Why do people breed dogs that could end up like this?

Just having a bleak morning and I am thinking about my old boy who died last year. I adopted him from a local rescue five years ago when he was eight. He came from the local pound. I don't know what breed but many people who should know have said that he had wheaten terrier in him. When I first brought him home and opened the front door for some reason he pushed his way out and took off down the street as if he was going somewhere. I had to chase him and bring him home. This happened a few times. I feel certain he was trying to go home to his family. Then a few months later when I had him out for a walk I let his lead go and again he was off, the same way as if he knew where he was going. He was also always very interested in mothers with prams especially if there were children with them on bikes. After a few years he stopped trying to run across to them but right to the end of his life he always looked hard at young families with prams. He was a very affectionate dog and easy to have around but I often wondered who would he choose if his old owner turned up. I did feel that he was never truly mine although a few days before he died we had a very close cuddle where he was completely relaxed and I felt finally trusted me. In my black moments I feel I repaid his trust be giving him his wings. In my better moments I know it was time though because his body had given up. Dogs are known for their loyalty and just wondering if anyone has had similar experiences with adopting older dogs or even younger dogs from pounds that seemed to be trying to go home.

Quite frankly I would hate to return to the days when we had dogs wandering around and yes it did happen. I was bitten (nipped) by a GSD which was then called an Alsatian and there were special laws about their confinement although I forget what they were. I don't remember people being killed or kids having their noses bitten off and dogs entering people's lounge rooms and killing their pet dogs. There are also more cars now than there used to be. When I look at a lost dogs facebook page I fume when I read people saying that their dog just took itself off for one of its walks and hasn't come back, or their dog has been missing for a few days and they are wondering where it might be, or dogs that go missing twice in the one day. People should know where their dogs are and be responsible for them. Dogs should not be allowed to wander. The good old days (were they really so good?) have gone. Dogs need to be confined and many today believe that cats should also be confined.

Loved it huski. So positive with your happy voice and the dog's wagging tail. You were both having fun.

Tassie and JulesP I am enjoying your posts. Perhaps I should give Rally a go. Does DOL have a support thread for people doing rally? I have attended classes before but never trialled at it. It does seem to be less stress but I fear I will misread a sign (turn left instead of right, the wrong sort of finish). I do think what TSD said earlier is so true though and I owe it to my dog to give it a go. ATM I will probably change to a different class anyway and just be patient for a little longer. She turned one last December so there is no hurry. Here is her pound photo. Of course I think she is gorgeous.

She is still there. Hope someone can help her.

Thanks for answering. The MacMillan diction offers this definition: 'rheumy eyes look red and wet because of illness, sadness, or old age' and I was referring to this photo from the link quoted by chequeredblackdog in #15. Yes, we are definitely talking about the same thing then. Obviously we can't know for sure how having eyes like that feels for the dog, but I do worry that they are uncomfortable, and therefore should be actively bred away from. Anyway, I hope that went some way to answering your question :) Your dogs' eyes don't bother me at all (sad but my favourite breed is the boxer and they have sad eyes and I love them) but the dog in the photo I posted has red eyes. Your dog doesn't. I just wondered about the red eyes. I thought it usually meant conjunctivitis, and I was wondering why it is happening in the Euro danes.